A goddess, a city and a tree

Known for her strength, Athena can throw a spear like a dart,

and on the day of the contest for Athens it’s a bull’s eye –

not just Attica’s but the world’s first olive tree springs where her spear falls.

Athena is surprised how at ease the tree is, the Saronic Gulf

merely its backyard, the slopes of the Akropolis simply a source of afternoon shade.

Athena’s competitor packs his bag, the fruit of the new tree glossy as his lost dream.

On Philopappos hill – lizards seeing blindly into the distance, empty olive oil cans

already being planted with geraniums in the city below – Athena throws her spear again

through air she may as well begin polluting. A chair appears, a table, a bowl of olives, an ashtray.

She reaches into the back pocket of her jeans, sits down, lights up.